Traditionally, turbomachinery, whether used in air, sea, or land-based applications, have provisions to visually inspect the equipment without removal of installed external equipment or teardown of the machine to access internal hardware. Typically plugs are removed on the external cases of the machine to allow the insertion of a fiber optic camera and light source, also known as a boroscope. Generally, the boroscope is a good tool for visual confirmation of the state of a blade, vane or other internal component of a turbomachine; however, it is limited in its ability to determine if a failure is imminent. Additionally, the visual examination is subjective, often resulting in false positives and negatives
Turbomachinery internal components, especially those in hot locations of the machine, are often coated with additional materials to enhance their longevity and durability; however, determining the integrity of these coatings in-situ is difficult due to the limitations of a visual system. Improvements in determining the integrity of these coatings in-situ are therefore needed in the art.